Good afternoon.
I have the awesome privilege of being the CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank. We are Toronto's primary food bank, and we have a clear vision that one day every Canadian's right to food will be realized.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to share with you what we are seeing on the ground and to share with you why, as policy-makers, you should be gravely concerned about the state of food insecurity in Canada now and in the coming months.
Before the pandemic, we saw about 65,000 client visits per month. This was problematic. The pandemic doubled that to a crisis level of 120,000 client visits per month. Then inflation took hold, and in February 2023 it was 215,000. Finally, this past February, we were horrified that there were 301,000 client visits in Toronto alone. I do not have the words to describe the state that we currently face.
The national numbers are also concerning, as they show 30% year-over-year growth, and there was 40% growth in Ontario this past year. The trend cannot continue, but it is. Where we used to see 2,000 individuals in Toronto each month make use of a food bank for the first time, we are now seeing 13,000 people every single month coming to a food bank for the first time.
The underlying reasons for this are complex, but I can summarize them in one sentence: People do not have enough income to afford the most basic costs of living, and this at a time when unemployment continues to be low. This should be worrying to you. In the past, food bank usage was always correlated to unemployment, but that's no longer the case. As a result, I have a lot of grey hair from thinking about what will happen if unemployment begins to rise.
For those interested in reducing the numbers, here are three policy buckets for your consideration.
The first is providing assistance to those on disability benefits. If you take nothing else from my testimony today, please consider the challenge of my friend Bobby Giles. Bobby, like one in five food bank clients, derives his income from disability benefits. He receives about $1,300 a month to survive on, which is a full $1,000 below the poverty line. Bobby’s reality is common not just in Ontario but nationally too. Indeed, there are over one million Canadians who rely on disability benefits, and we as a nation legislate each one of them, like Bobby, to live in deep poverty.
We at the Daily Bread Food Bank have been part of a coalition of dozens of organizations from coast to coast to coast that have said that enough is enough. It is time to fully fund the all-party-supported Canada disability benefit on Tuesday, April 16.
Disability Without Poverty recently released an Angus Reid poll that found 91% of Canadians across all party lines support this benefit. Why is there unanimous support for the Canada disability benefit? It is because it aligns with our values as Canadians, because we know we can no longer outsource food insecurity to charity, because we know that targeted benefits are effective and because we know that not addressing poverty costs more. Indeed, poverty is estimated to cost some $30 billion in Ontario annually.
The second policy bucket I want to speak about is affordable housing. Of clients at food banks, 70% are paying more than half of their income for housing, putting them at high risk of homelessness. Almost one in five food bank clients is putting 100% of their income towards housing, leaving absolutely nothing for food and other expenses. The fall economic statement and recent announcements present opportunities for investments that recognize and seek to remedy the challenges we are all facing nationally when it comes to housing. We applaud these efforts.
The third and final policy bucket is providing support for employed Canadians who cannot make ends meet. We at the food bank are seeing a rise in the number of people with employment as their primary income source. In fact, food bank usage among this segment doubled this past year from 15% to 33%. Within that group are people who generally have precarious employment in temporary or contract roles, low wages and few or no benefits. The government announced a process to reform EI, but we have not yet seen the outcomes. As a result, thousands of Canadians continue to not qualify, because the program does not reflect the modern reality of work, which includes gig work and self-employment.
In summary, solving poverty is complex. However, the good news is that we know what will work. Targeted benefits like the Canada child benefit and the guaranteed income supplement have had significant impacts and have reduced the severity of food insecurity. We have it within our power as a nation to eliminate poverty and food insecurity among Canadians with disabilities through the Canada disability benefit.
I implore you to seize this opportunity. Until food bank usage begins to subside, we will be there for everybody who needs it. I also implore you to think about these three policy buckets as you consider the financial distribution and resource allocations ahead of you.
Thank you.